Aluminium has always carried a contradiction. It is the metal the world turns to for lightweighting, electrification and decarbonisation. And yet producing it remains one of the most energy-intensive industrial activities on the planet. However, that contradiction is finally catching up with the industry. Over 2023 and 2024, as the world’s primary aluminium output edged upward, a parallel battle unfolded behind the scenes in the fight over electrons. What powered the smelters mattered as much as how much they produced. And the global power map that emerges from the latest data is a story of contrasts — between coal and hydro, between gas-rich Gulf producers and hydro-blessed Scandinavia, between Asia’s ambitious new expansions and Africa’s slow-moving grids. This is the first of a two-part series unpacking how power consumption is reshaping aluminium. This part establishes the ground reality, unveiling the cold, quantitative picture of who is producing aluminium and what kind of energy is powering it. Part 2 will move from data to direction: the new strategic signals emerging from the recently held ADIPEC 2025, and what they mean for aluminium’s energy future.
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Also read: From scrap to strength: Why global aluminium scrap is flowing into Southeast Asia
The scale of the appetite: 70-72 million tonnes of aluminium, over 900 TWH of electricity
Primary aluminium production crossed roughly 70.6 million tonnes in 2023, rising to an estimated 72.3 million tonnes in 2024, marking a global increase of 2.4 per cent year-on-year. But behind these tonnages lies a number rarely seen in headlines, wherein aluminium smelting consumed well over 900 terawatt hours (TWh) of electricity in 2023 alone and climbed further in 2024.
To put that into perspective, the aluminium industry consumes almost as much electricity as Germany’s entire annual grid.
This energy draw is not a marginal industrial concern. It is the foundation of the modern aluminium supply chain. Each tonne of aluminium requires roughly 13-15 MWh of electricity. Multiply that by tens of millions of tonnes, and the industry’s decarbonisation story becomes inseparable from the global power transition.
China: The coal-anchored giant that sets the global trendline
No analysis of global aluminium energy patterns can begin anywhere but China.
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